1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of priority control, and more specifically to determining priority based on voting.
2. Description of the Related Art
In digital computations, multiple input values may be received at a circuit with the requirement to a single resultant value based on the inputs received. The resultant value may be determined in various ways, one such way being the majority of values received, a technique called “voting.” For example, a series of 1s and 0s may be received as input, with the resultant value being either 1 or 0 depending on the quantity of each operand received. If more 0s are received than is, the result will be 0, and vice versa. The difficulty is quickly and efficiently determining the resultant value.
Circuits designed to employ majority voting have typically included a counting section and an operation section. The counting section determines the quantity of each available value received as input, such as two 0s, three is, seven 2s, and so forth, while the operation section adds and/or subtracts values received from the counting section. For eight distinct inputs, approximately seven separate circuit elements may be required to assess voting. If additional inputs are received, more circuit elements are typically required. If the number of input values or bits is N, the needed number of circuit elements or logic gates is proportional to N2.
Such circuitry may consume significant amounts of static power, and may require a reference voltage or threshold to form a baseline. The hardware required to generate a reference voltage is frequently complex and consumes significant power.
While voting circuitry is simple, straightforward, and relatively well known, it would be desirable to offer a simple, straightforward mechanism or method that offers reduced complexity and power consumption and may provide for fewer circuits or components than existing designs.